“Encryption is inexorably tied to our national interests. It is a safeguard for our personal secrets and economic prosperity. It helps to prevent crime and protect national security." – A report from the bipartisan House Judiciary Committee & House Energy and Commerce Committee

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After the recent scandal revealing that Trump campaign aides have had repeated contacts with Russian intelligence in 2016, the entire Trump family apparently turned towards encryption to protect their private communications amongst themselves and possibly with others. Several encrypted Tutanota mailboxes were registered yesterday alone with distinct names of Trump family members.

Now the Trump family seems to have learned from those early mistakes during the presidential electoral campaign. They have learned that everything that happens online will be copied by the NSA and can be read and analyzed at a later stage.

The Secret Service or perhaps some other US agency captured the email messages and telephone calls between Mr. Trump’s associates and the Russians, as reported the New York Times. Then the FBI asked the NSA to collect as much information as possible on this, and analyze troves of previously intercepted communications. We can assume that the captured information includes some email messages made by or received by Donald Trump or members of his family. Now the new President and his family reportedly are switching to encrypted email messages.

The new head of the CIA believes the agency should even expand its present capabilities to monitor the online and offline activities all US and foreign citizens.

Mike Pompeo will lead the Central Intelligence Agency, after the US Senate confirmed his nomination Monday evening in a vote of 66 to 32. Pompeo has supported rolling back reforms on US surveillance practices that were put in place after Edward Snowden’s leaked NSA documents revealed spy programs that caught up US residents. At his confirmation hearing, Pompeo also said he wanted to track information from social media accounts.

“Unlike what much of today’s political rhetoric says, strong cryptography is essential for our information security. It’s how we protect our information and our networks from hackers, criminals, foreign governments, and terrorists. Security vulnerabilities, whether deliberate backdoor access mechanisms or accidental flaws, make us all less secure. Getting security right is harder than it looks, and our best chance is to make the cryptography as simple and public as possible.”

– Bruce Schneier, internationally renowned American cryptographer, computer security and privacy specialist, and writer, called a “security guru” by The Economist.

Lawrence “Larry” Wilkerson, a retired Army colonel who served as the chief of staff to Secretary of State Colin Powell in President George W. Bush’s administration, finds the revelations made by Edward Snowden a service. In 2013, Edward Snowden, a former contractor with NSA, worked with journalists to reveal a number of mass surveillance programs. In a recent interview, Wilkerson said, “I think Snowden has done a service. I wouldn’t have had the courage, and maybe not even the intellectual capacity, to do it the way he did it. There’s a logic to what he has done that is impressive. He really has refrained from anything that was truly dangerous, with regard to our security — regardless of what people say. He has been circumspect about what he’s released, how he’s released it, who he’s released it to.”

“Operational security is important even if you’re not worried about the NSA. Because when you think about who the victims of surveillance are, on a day-to-day basis, you’re thinking about people who are in abusive spousal relationships, you’re thinking about people who are concerned about stalkers, you’re thinking about children who are concerned about their parents overhearing things. It’s to reclaim a level of privacy.”

“You should encrypt your hard disk, so that if your computer is stolen the information isn’t obtainable to an adversary — pictures, where you live, where you work, where your kids are, where you go to school.”

The European Parliament has voted to grant whistleblower Edward Snowden protections across the 28 member state block against extradition or rendition to the US, where he faces espionage charges.

In a statement, the former US government contractor was called a “human rights defender” for leaking thousands of documents that detail the vast scope of US government surveillance. By 285 votes to 281, Members of the European Parliament decided to call on EU member states to “drop any criminal charges against Edward Snowden, grant him protection and consequently prevent extradition or rendition by third parties, in recognition of his status as whistle-blower and international human rights defender.”

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